REVscene Automotive Forum - I spent 3 months in the West Indies...

Quote:

Originally Posted by blkgsr (Post 8706297)

nice, what islands

Bermuda, Turks & Caicos, Cayman Islands, St Maarten, Grenada, Barbados, and a couple of the pics above are from Playa Del Carmen. (Photos above are not in any order.)

Bermuda and Barbados were our favourites.

Bermuda is totally unique and different from the rest of the Caribbean. The last pic in my original post (the beach) is just one of Bermuda's flawless empty beaches. The people are incredibly friendly, the standard of living is very high, and it's just generally a very cool place.

For me, Barbados is the ideal blend of authenticity (ie. real Caribbean history, culture, cuisine, etc) and practicality (ie. safe, easy to get around, things function properly, etc). Beautiful scenery and friendly people, too.

Only places I didn't really fancy too much are Turks & Caicos, which has the world's most spectacular beach and good diving but absolutely nothing else, and St Maarten, which is still kinda cool but just feels a bit tired and worn out nowadays.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blkgsr (Post 8706297)

what was cost of living like? hotels, food etc

Can't really tell you about cost of an apartment because we mainly stayed in VRBO/AirBnB or hotels. Prices on different islands vary greatly.

Bermuda is the most expensive place ever, period. Very wealthy place to begin with (per capita GDP of $80k+) so wages drive up cost of living, plus it's a tiny speck of land in the middle of the Atlantic so everything is imported. You can't rent cars there either (tourists can only get scooters, which are fun but not good for carrying groceries) which means more taxi rides or more meals at your hotel restaurant.

Cayman Islands are pretty pricey too, especially food when you factor in the conversion. 1 Cayman dollar = $1.25 USD = ~$1.55+ CDN. Still, cheaper to get to the Caymans and there's more accommodation options than some other islands.

Turks & Caicos is pretty expensive but it's trying to market itself as an upscale destination and absolutely everything is imported. I expected worse though to be honest (we went in off-season, which may explain that).

St Maarten is pretty affordable comparatively speaking, especially if you're willing to stay in less desirable areas and eat/shop in the places locals do. It's more expensive if you pay in Euros on the French side, we mostly stayed on the Dutch half.

Grenada is still a pretty affordable destination, but I think in 5-10 years it'll be a hot tourist destination and prices will go up. It's not cheap, of course -- this is the Caribbean after all -- but it's a lot more manageable than some islands. Food at restaurants was pretty reasonable and I saw some good hotel deals.

Hotels are pretty steep in Barbados in the high season, but in low season when we were there it was actually really affordable ($145 USD / night for a solid 4* hotel on the beach). You can eat at more humble restaurants and shop carefully and live on a reasonable budget (at least you could in Nov when we were there). Hell, I remember paying less than $2 CDN for a beer at one beach bar we visited. Barbados is definitely my top recommendation for someone looking for a top-notch authentic Caribbean vacation that doesn't break the bank.

Playa Del Carmen.. what can I say, it's Mexico. It's by far the most affordable of the places we visited on this trip. It's a cool place but not really Caribbean.

:buttrock: